Chapter 1: Parting Ways

During the summer after my eighth grade year I hung out with my friend Jacob Rheinhart. We grew up together as neighbors, so it was definitely simple to hang out. But the reason we were hanging out so much this summer, was because before our freshman year, he was moving. Ever since gradeschool we imagined being together for class of 2020. So many puns about "perfect vision" were made. He was the only person that could ever get away with making a pun that would actually make me laugh."It's a shame isn't it? So long together and now we'll be miles away." He rhetorically asked."Yeah... where you moving to?" I asked, making sure I knew absolutely sure, hoping I could visit sometime."Waldo, Ohio. Guess we finally found him." He said as we both laughed. Another one of those puns only he could get away with."Heh, long way from Hell." I put emphasis on the irony of living in a city in Michigan literally named "Hell.""Man, what are we gonna do without each other?""Well they say you change a lot in teen years. We'll probably meet new people and start our own circles of friends.""Still gonna keep in contact?""We may live in Hell but Satan himself couldn't keep us apart." We both chuckled at yet another pun only we could get away with. We talked for about an hour or so after that, just about life, music, and well I'm not sure about the rest. I always had trouble following our own train of thought. Finally, it came time for us to say our good-byes, for he would be leaving the next morning."I'll literally run down there to see you if I have to." I told him reassuringly. He smiled and remarker, "You're good enough at running, I wouldn't put it past you." We both smiled as we parted ways for the last time in a long time. But the surprises didn't end there. Not too long after we parted ways I got a text from him. "Dude, I just overheard my parents talking, I made sure they didn't know I heard. They were mentioning something about your parents wondering if they should tell you something important, something that might 'affect you too badly at this age.' I'll let you know if I hear anymore." Something important? That could "affect me too badly at this age?" I was smart for my age, so I didn't have a hard time coming up with ideas of what this meant. But i couldn't just let them know I knew or had an idea, I had to get it out of them. "Mom, I've been feeling strange lately..." I was trying to play my cards right, not letting on I necessarily knew. "What do you mean?" She asked concerningly. "Like, I don't belong. Sort of like I don't belong in this family." "Oh honey, of course you belong in this family, why else would God have put you here?" I just smiled as if that reassured me. Once again, I was smart for my age, and I knew something was up. Apparently I wasn't getting it out of her, and I knew my dad would be even more resistent. I knew other ways of finding out though. I may have been a healthy kid, but there was one unhealthy habit I was good at, and that was staying up late. It didn't take long, both my parents went to bed at about 10, so I just had to stay up long enough for them to fall asleep. Simple enough to tell, they always left their door open, and turned off the TV when they planned on actually falling asleep. Just a few minutes later I could hear the snoring. They kept their records in a cabinet in our computer room, downstairs from the bedroom, so no worries of waking them up. I had to be careful to put everything back as it was. Searching through and moving all the boring files like taxes and property and such, till finally I found it, medical records, hoping these would also contain birth records. This, of course, was only an idea. But that's when I heard the steps coming down the stairs.

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